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Speedy Hills For Speedy Birds

With barely 2 weeks remaining to race day, the Kingfishers were introduced to their third hills training ground for what turned out to be hills repeats at SpeedyBird Pace.

The 4km run into the start point was already one of rolling hills with good elevation to make a grown man sweat buckets. And if that was not enough to break a sweat for some, the faster groups were guided to do activation drills to prepare them for the main course.

The 1km loop made up of a good up slope in the first segment to make sure that the trainees were given a good workout, before breaking into recovery mode with some nifty footwork to build up the stride rates for improved cadence.

The 2 sets of 3 repetitions were executed to a tee by the respective groups with just sufficient rest intervals tailored to each group according to their HM targets and abilities. The strong base that have been built up till now put the Kingfishers in good stead as they 'flew' around the 1km repeats with measured grace while maintaining good form and posture.

The main course was consumed with gusto and enthusiasm as the Kingfishers found their recovery requirements were shorter than allocated, pointing to improving cardiovascular strength and speed endurance. They were able to sustain the prescribed 85-90% effort for the 6 repetitions, with a couple of runners even wanting to go for extras - of course that would not be done during training to avoid over-reaching and risking injury.

A nice dessert of body weight resistance circuit was served immediately. The short post-run HIIT bursts got the Kingfishers all pumped up even after having done 10km worth of high intensity running, providing a good closure with some core work to complement the lower body conditioning.

The evening ended on a high 'in endorphins' for most of the runners. The Kingfishers will be looking forward to test their base in this coming weekend's 21km Optimal Pace run, a sort of preliminary time trial for a good gauge of their performance potential on Aug 31.The Kingfishers Enjoy Speed &amp; Hills!